SMEM - swiss museum for electronic music instruments
Overview
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Intro
The smem, Swiss museum and center for electronic musical instruments, has one of the world's largest and most important collections of synthesizers, organs, drum machines, effects units, mixers, amplifiers and studio equipment.
The smem, Swiss museum and center for electronic musical instruments, has one of the world's largest and most important collections of synthesizers, organs, drum machines, effects units, mixers, amplifiers and studio equipment. Around 5000 instruments and devices are stored in its showroom at the BlueFactory innovation center in Fribourg-Freiburg. The collection is operated as an active archive and display warehouse, and is made accessible and available to musicians, the general public, and researchers. Around 50 important electronic musical instruments can be used in the Playroom.
Creativity: Making electronic musical instruments accessible to musicians. There are several hundred cult instruments and thousands of less desirable or for many unknown sound devices. They should all be maintained equally and be available to musicians under certain conditions for their playing and recording. The smem thus supports musical creativity and makes a significant contribution to the experimental discovery of the extremely versatile sound world of electronic musical instruments. Numerous musicians have already worked with the instruments in residence, and several recordings have been released.
Preservation: to preserve, maintain and research the cultural heritage of electronic musical instruments. The smem has the ambitious goal of preserving as many instruments as possible in working order for present and future generations. Although the history of electric and electronic musical instruments is still new, many exhibits have already been lost or become rare due to wear and tear or replacement by newer technology (digital instead of analog). Therefore, the collection includes not only particularly valuable instruments, but cares about the wide spectrum. Storage and maintenance are complex and costly. All instruments have to be checked regularly, many have minor or major damage due to use or erosion. On the other hand, the size of the collection provides an opportunity for documentation and research in a single location.
Outreach: communicating the sounds and technology of electronic musical instruments to the general public. Most people listen to music produced and played with electronic musical instruments. But they are less likely to know what instruments and effects devices were used to create it and how these devices work. Analog and virtual presentations of the smem convey this world of electronic musical instruments. An extensive program, partly for a broad audience, partly for specialists, also offers events in the center itself. The educational offer is aimed at all target audiences and all ages.
THE PROJECT
The project is based on the collection of Klemens Niklaus Trenkle. For 40 years, he has gathered the vast holdings on his personal initiative, collecting rare as well as mass-produced instruments and devices in equal measure. In 2016, the smem association took over the collection by contract and undertook to preserve it in a center and make it accessible. With the collection, it has adopted the philosophy that all instruments produce their own sounds and have their place in the now immensely large electronic sound world. The collection has grown by an additional several hundred instruments over the past five years. All of them were generously donated to the smem by owners or acquired by patrons. The smem itself has no financial means for the purchase. The collection is broadly based.
The core is formed by the sounding and sound-creating analog and digital devices, the synthesizers, organs, pianos, drum machines and effect devices like echo reverb, delay, equalizer, sampler and sequencer as well as the accessories like pedals. In addition, some electronic guitars and accordions. The ring includes studio and stage equipment, recorders, mixers, amplifiers, speakers, PCs and microphones. Today the collection is clearly stored, maintained and displayed in a showroom of only 600 m2. In the medium term, a large part of the instruments and equipment will be well documented on the website of the smem in a virtual collection to see and hear. For extensive presentations and exhibitions in the center, further rooms are missing at the moment. For musicians:inside there are about 50 valuable instruments available in the smem's playroom, with which they can play and sample. Here, too: For the planned broad use, the smen is looking for an additional, large room.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
General information
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| Contact address |
SMEM - swiss museum for electronic music instruments
Passage du Cardinal 1 1700 Fribourg contact@smemmusic.ch |
| Location |
SMEM - swiss museum for electronic music instruments
Passage du Cardinal 1 1700 Fribourg Schweiz |
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